Bake A Sponge Cake To Pass The Time

Hi everyone

As I go through life I find that I am getting more into blanks. I have things to do of course but I don't do it so willingly. Kind of lazy, and being idle, later makes you anguish for wasting precious time.

Apart from swimming or walking in the morning and on every alternate day for tennis I still have plenty of time left after doing the house and cooking.

Reading is a good way to fill the hours, especially in the afternoon ( sleepy?) when by then all or most of the housework is done. But reading good novels can be so absorbing that you tend to forget the time, at least for me. So I try to read only short articles in blogs though sometimes the entries are nothing much, just something light like mine here. But that's ok since I don't really want serious disturbing heavy reading to make me worry for nothing.

By the way here is one good article I just read.

http://klse.i3investor.com/blogs/kianweiaritcles/145827.jsp

(Referring to the article, I wish I am young again to start all over hehe)

At times I would occupy myself by doing some baking, like trying making cakes or try baking my own bread. But all these fattening food I have tried to avoid now, as I am trying to care better for my health.

Some people mock at old ladies trying to lose weight. These people really don't understand the fear in us. Of course, we are not trying to be as slim as the bird.

The Shrike

At this age, health is really what is important. You don't want to end up falling ill and become nonambulatory in later life. God forbid, hope it won't happen.

Nonetheless, we like to enjoy when it comes to food. It depends on what we really like. As for me, I can't help it. I like cakes.

I have got to choose low-fat recipes like the one which I got from an old book. In a later entry, I will share with you the recipe for a light cake like this.

Sponge cake.

Meantime, let's watch how sponge cake is made in this youtube video. Watch till the end.

Till next entry,

bye . . .

The House Holds The Story Forever

Hi everyone

I have spent my time about a week away from home. Since everything is back to normal and the sick have fully recovered it was time for me to take leave.

On my way home I made a detour to see an old house, the house which I  bought a long time ago when I was in my late twenties. It is situated in a housing area at the outskirt of the city.

I bought the house with the intention to stay but never had the chance to do that. When the house was ready I was transferred out of town and then transferred again to my present locality and as mentioned in my past blog post I fell in love with this place. I remain here to live my retirement years. I don't know what the future holds for me, most probably I remain here until the end.

About the house, in the beginning, it was difficult to get a tenant. There was no public transport plying the area, and walking out to the nearest bus route was out of the question. The area is hilly. The reason for the difficulty.

"This house is ours you need to fly to come up here"

Anyway, after some time we got a tenant, an engineer. A good tenant, he paid his due on time always. His Mrs was a full-time housewife. They rented there for some time, I don't really remember how long but when they left they had additions to their family. He was happy and I was happy too.  He moved out to live in his own house.

Then there was also a tenant who claimed to work in the entertainment industry. I let the house to him as he and his wife were very interested.  They were not very punctual with the rental payment but as long as they pay I was quite happy. They stayed there just for a short while.

There were few more tenants, all with their own idiosyncrasies. The last one was a businessman. He paid the rental alright quite punctual. By this time I was very busy having to look after the home and family single-handedly as my husband was away working in different places and we were really too busy to care for anything else. As long as the rental came in I was quite happy.

When the businessman moved out I was quite shocked and sad to see the condition of the house. Obviously, he did make alterations but later removed it. He had put temporary dividers to make more rooms. There were nail marks everywhere, holes in the wall and ugly marks on the parquet flooring. In hindsight, I think he must have sublet the house to his workers, otherwise why the need for the dividers. You can imagine what will become of a house when there are more occupants than what it can accommodate.

I have had enough. After him, I just left the house vacant. Also how to rent the house when it was in such a shabby state. At that time I did not have enough fund to repair and to make the house decently livable. I thought I would repair and spruce up the house when it was time for me to go and stay there but really I was reluctant. By this time we have bought the house which I am now staying.

When my son first came back from his study and started working I made him tumpang with my sister but later he wanted to live on his own. So we minimally repaired the house for him to stay and he continued to live there for many years after being married. Last year his family that is his wife and the four girls moved out.

The house was snapped up by the next door neighbor. He rents it for his son to stay. And he has spoken to us about his intention to buy.  Should I sell it?

I was advised not to sell it yet. There is now an ongoing road construction linking the area to a highway. A good prospect for the house to fetch a higher rental or higher price if I sell it later.

I am not thinking too much about that but I hold special regards to this man, the neighbor.  Even if he decides not to buy and wants to continue renting I won't increase the rent unless when I am in a dire need. I feel indebted to him. Why?

He has on one night saved my family members from possibly being chopped by robbers who broke into the house.

On that unlucky night, my son was abruptly awakened by a man holding over him, a parang. His reflex was to fight back but managed to only shout but once. Quick thinking made him be quiet because he did not want to put everybody else in danger. They had him bound and gagged.

Actually, there was nothing valuable for them to rob. Not much money and no jewelry and that angered the robbers. And when these bad people are angry they can do anything to you.

They made my daughter in law walked downstairs to get her handbag which she left there. As she walked down the stairs another man followed with another parang held over her head.

My daughter, staying in the house at the time was awakened, drowsily opened the door - right into the trap! She was tied up there and then and robbed off her phone. Two young children were in the same room.

My daughter in law begged the intruders not to do anything to the children. Thank God they were not disturbed but we know one of them was aware of the presence of aliens in the house because in the morning she asked  ". . . mana uncle semalam?" .  What to say to her except aiyoh!

The third girl, the youngest still a toddler at the time was left with me for a few days because the mother was preparing for some exam.  So she was not there during the break-in. Imagine if she was there causing agitations to the intruders by her crying . . .

I do not know what will happen if the neighbor did not come to their aid.

When the neighbor heard my son's angry shout he became suspicious and came out to investigate and called my son, of course, there was no response. He realized that was a break-in.

He shouted and startled one of the intruders standing guard at the main door. The man alerted his accomplice. Then the three (four?) men scrambled out. the neighbor gave a chase. One of them fell right before him.  He could have poked the man with the garden tool he was holding but sanity prevails though he was furious and angry.

The robbers escaped before the police arrived.

This man, the neighbor,  risked his life for my family. We owe him gratitude.

As time goes we tend to forget even the neighbor himself might have forgotten the incident but I will always be with the old-fashioned viewpoint 'Budi baik tetap di kenang". The house holds the story forever.

So that was the house I went to see. We just drove past the house which now looked spruced up with a new coat of paint. Hope they take good care of my house, a house which I never come to make a home but nevertheless soaked up a lot of my emotions.

Occupants' sweet moments in the house

Will stop here, for now.

Take care.

Simple Baking Project

Hi friends

Another week has gone by. Time passes us so fast.

Infants have become toddler, the young has grown older but the old have yet to become wiser haha.

Life is a long and sometimes a tired journey. But no.

Still we are not tired of celebrating birthdays year after year because there is always the chocolate and cakes to sweeten, balloons  and ribbons to color and families and friends to cheer.

Life is not that dull at whatever age you are depending on how you color it and that you are not at all time chasing after the rainbows.

People say life is not only to be lived but also to be celebrated.

In the name of celebration aha, last weekend we held a small birthday get-together for our four October-born family members of three generations.

Home made, rugged  

Had an enjoyable family bonding with jokes and laughs and a lot of makan makan . . .

And one cake baked by me for the day was this . . .

Hah a burnt cake?

Hey no! I assure you it is nice.

I confess, that was my first trial.

Actually I have listed this cake recipe in my to do simple baking projects but never get to do it before this. And as usual the recipe is from the internet but I tweak it a little because I don't have some of the ingredients and equipment in my humble kitchen.

You can find this recipe on the internet easily just type Easy Lazy Daisy Cake in your browser and out will come the many recipes. Anyway I put the one from Taste.com down here for you.

Easy Lazy Daisy Cake.

4 eggs

2 cups sugar ( I used a bit less)

2 teaspoon vanilla ( I used pure vanilla powder)

2 cups AP flour ( I used 2 1/4 cups superfine flour)

2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup butter

1 cup milk


Frosting

1- 1//2 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup butter

1/2 cup milk or cream (I used milk)

2 cups sweetened shredded coconut ( I used ordinary fresh  shredded coconut, only the white)


Method (the cake)

1. Melt butter in milk in a small pot over the stove. Put aside. Keep the mixture hot.

2. Beat egg, sugar and vanilla until thick and yellow.

3.Combine flour, baking powder and salt, add to egg mixture

4. Add the hot milk+butter . ( Batter a little fluid)

5. Bake in 13 x 9 inch, 30 - 35 minutes at 350 degrees C.

( I baked for a longer time in a round tin which is smaller in capacity resulting in thicker cake which I think is a mistake, later you will know why)


Frosting

Melt butter in milk in a pot on the stove. add brown sugar. Stir. Add coconut. Boil for three minutes.

( I put some lemon rind and juice as I thought it can cut off some of the sweetness. As it turned out it was just the right thing to do)

---------------------------------------

Spread the frosting evenly on hot cake.

If you have a kitchen torch used it to caramelize the frosting. I do not have one so I put the cake again in  the oven under the grill. Be very careful, keep watch. I nearly burn the whole cake in the process ha ha.

----------------------------------------

As mentioned earlier due to my using a smaller capacity baking tin my cake was thicker. I should have baked it in the bigger tin as stipulated in the recipe so that the cake is flatter.

This was pointed out to me that my cake was a little too thick. There was no more frosting after the first bite haha. Betul juga . . . if you bite from the top the bottom is left without the frosting. To attack from the side you have to open wide your mouth, not okey unless you are eating alone at home hehe. So a flatter cake is more dainty.

It was the coconut frosting that makes the cake taste different from other sponge cake. Every bite then would be heavenly.

I did not have a picture of the cut cake so that you can see the thickness. But you can more or less make out how thick it was as indicated in the last picture.

Egg. sugar ,vanilla 

Flour,baking powder,salt sift into egg mixture

mixture a little thick

Add hot butter milk mixture into flour mixture

The batter, a little fluid

Bake

Cook the coconut frosting

Put a little lemon rind and juice into frosting mixture

Spread frosting on hot cake

Set the grill

Put cake under the grill

Don't get it burnt!

The cake is supposed to be served in the baking container. Put the container in decorative perforated tray. If I have some edible flower like the bunga tongkeng , I would put in around in the tray to make it more presentable.

Well friends, I would make this cake again, nice soft and spongy and the caramelized coconut frosting makes it taste special.

I suggest you try it too.

As an after thought; we can also call this cake  kek kelapa hangus?


Happy baking .


Bye . . .

Motivation

Hello again all

Everybody is watching sports this week. Ya . . . the SEA games . . . if you don't care to watch you would miss all the excitements.

But really watching the sports on the TV alone is not the same as watching the game at the venue itself , the excitement is different. Anyway nowadays we have the 40 inch TV screen and that at HD it is not so bad. You can even see the perspiration . . .and feel the heart beat . . .

One of the glorious moments was when our netball team won in the finals.

I have never before truly enjoyed watching net ball on the screen or in the field. My perception about the game being slow, static and unexciting made me not interested to watch. Perhaps because the  game played in the old days was full or restrictions. The whistle would sound even at the slightest pushing or obstruction at the opponent. Though in schooldays we played netball all the time we never really can keep up with the rules of the game.

When you left school you also leave the game. It is not practical to take up this game as a hobby as you hardly can get people to play it regularly. Thus the lack of interest in the game, me thinks.

When my daughter was in school I did not encourage her to take up netball seriously but to take up some other games which can be played regularly outside school hours for want of more physical exercise.

It happens that one young member in the family was talent spotted by a netball teacher and being pulled in to train with the school team. She at first was so reluctant mainly because the rest of the team are all few years her seniors. We all have to persuade her to go for it, to believe in herself and not to feel inferior. I wonder whether our words to convince her would make her more interested and to perform good.

. . . even made for her birthday, a netball theme cake . . . ha ha

Goal . . . .

I hope she had watched the SEA Game netball finals.  That will make the difference and which would give her motivation more than how much we have tried.

The finals was an eye- opener as I perceived how the game is played today. . . I marveled at the high standard of play, the agility of the players and the fluidity of their movement. And the accuracy shown by the Malaysian goal shooter, I don't have a word to say more . . .

Really enjoyed watching. It has changed my perception of the game.

For the Malaysian team the gold is rightfully theirs.

And it sure motivates and gives inspiration to the many young girls out there.


Stay active and play netball.

Bye . . .

How To . . . . Blondies

Hi friends

I like to bake.

I don't really know why but one thing is certain.. I simply like to eat cakes, I don't mind having them for breakfast if I run out of breakfast food and happens to have cakes in the fridge. Since I am on a quite strict diet now I try hard not to bake even though the crave for it comes strong. But when situation arise I would willingly bake.

 Now when I think back, yes may be I am a little conceited. When those people who eat the cakes I bake tell me that they like the cakes because  it tastes good,  nice and fluffy and etc and wanting for more I feel proud and kembang hehe.

And when they said my cake deco is stylish or beautiful I am happy and will quietly gloat over it for days. I forget the hard work and the long hours of putting it together and at my own expenses usually.

Am I the only one having such an attitude, which I sometimes feel stupid.

Anyway it takes efforts to be happy, I believe. That is, by making others happy first.

So when a friend, a retiree too, suggested that we break our mundane life by having a pot luck get-together I agreed and without thinking much I offered my house to be the venue. And in my mind I already had what sweet treats to serve for them all.

I baked for them a date cake,  brownies and lemon  blondies.

I will share with you here how to make blondies .

Recipe is not my own, as usual it is from the internet. I stumbled upon it some time ago. I have made it a few times. This is quite a simple dessert, very few ingredients used. To me it tastes nice with its not too sweet and tangy lemony taste. My friends enjoyed it and was praising me, of course I demurely brushed aside the compliments but on the inside you can guess hehe.

Credit should be given to the person who concocted the recipe . Nowadays people are willing to share. Thanks to them all.

I am being ungrateful I forgot which website I referred to.

Here goes . . .

 Lemon blondies

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter (soft)
2 eggs

1/2 lemon for juice

Zest of 1/2 lemon

For glazing,

Mix about 1/4 cup icing sugar to juice of 1/2 lemon. Stir.


Method

As usual one bowl method.

Put all ingredients, except items for glazing, in bowl.

Start the mixer, mix until smooth.

Put batter in lined 7 inch square baking tin

Level it.

Bake at 165 degrees C about 25 minute. (My old oven took less.)

When baked take out from the oven prick the blondies with a fork.

While still hot dab the surface using brush dipped in lemon glaze.

Put the blondies in the refrigerator.

When cold and hardened cut into squares.

Served cold is best.

Enjoy.

NB:

• Make double recipe. Single measure is always not enough. And make sure every drop of the juice is squeezed out from the lemon. Perah sampai kering . . .
• When stacking the squares in container put thin plastic sheet or cling wrap in between layers
• Store them in the fridge

I love this lemon zester so effective and easy to work with

The zester

Mix everything

Use off set spatula to level the batter

Prick it

Dab with glaze laden brush

Lemon blondies

There you have it how to make lemon blondies.

Desserts by whatever name is sweet.

Bye . . .

Buttercream Roses On Cupcakes

Hello everyone

Lately I was bitten by this bug again and I keep thinking and planning how to address this itch. Ho ho no not talking about the sandfly again. This, this 'sweet activity' which seems to be suddenly catching up on me again. Yes I have neglected it until just lately.

Yeah you guess it right. Baking and cake decorating. My blog is about cheering up life with hobbies and pastimes so it is just appropriate that I include this in my blogging which by the way is something I love to do.  I am not turning my blog into a cookery or baking or cake decorating blog. Am not qualified. Its just that I like doing all these and I would want to share my experience with my blog readers.

Last week a friend asked if I could bake for her some cupcakes and decorate it appropritely as a hantaran. She wanted it to be simple but sweet enough for the purpose.

Of course I said yes. This is a chance for me to have another small baking project  I offered to do it for her foc. And so I did.

I only had one and a half days. I don't mean I need 36 hours to bake those little cakes. I have to reserve some time for mistakes you see. I do not want to break my promise, what if at the last moment the whole thing turn out to be a mess, something of an embarrassment. I am not a professional, just a humble homemaker. Must give allowance for mistakes.

I finished baking at nearly one in the morning.

Uneven browning, the oven's fault haa

The next morning I decorated the cake. It was difficult to decide on the colour. If possible I would like to have a colour as vibrant as this flower.

Desert rose 

Or how about this more subdued colour of nature

Flower (name?) in my garden

I tried experimenting with the colours but I didn't like it too dull for the occasion.

Dull coloured 'flower'

 I have only a few food colors in my keeping. So I settled for something brighter and sweet though I wish I had other choice.

Bright colours, no more

So here's my masterpiece . . .

Buttercream roses piped using the russian piping tips

A box of cupcakes anyone?

Pheww . . ,what a relief. All done and ready for delivery.

And today I am getting a free lunch hehe.

Ok will be with you in my next entry . . . 

Bye . . .

Microwave Chocolate Cake

Hi everyone

Today is Sunday again.

Everyone would be busy minding  their own affairs, visitings, weddings, shopping to stock up their supplies, entertaining the weekend children etc. So me and friends usually don't play tennis on Sunday. Anyway I had played yesterday evening, two sets of very long and tiring game.

It tickles me thinking about yesterday's game. My doubles partner was a man in his 70s. Our opponent was his wife of about the same age partnering a man also of about the same age. Heeee I was the youngest, but I think I was the weakest and slowest. When I could not take the opponent's dropshot my partner would be able to save it and while he was doing so he would shout in jest 'old man can still run . n . n . n . . .' without panting or he may hid cleverly his breathlessness. Yes we do ha ha ha.

We know we are old but we cannot stop playing, we enjoy and love tennis so much.

Today and tomorrow I must nurse my aching toes, by Tuesday I hope to play again.

When you are deep in the games food is off your mind but not when you are so free.

Today I crave for cakes.

In this entry I am going to share with you how like magic you can have a cake right in front of you so you can satisfy yourself of a sudden craving . Quick and easy.

Oh for some people they would just grab the car keys and drive to the nearest cake shop. But in some places like here there is no cake shop. You only have that bakery that sells mass produced cakes the ones that come in plastic wraps. Not the home baked type.

Bake your own cake.

You have all the neccessary kitchen equiptments use it. They are there not for show. Take the microwave oven for example, may be you are just like me the microwave oven is seldom used except just for reheating. It is made to do several functions. It can bake. Fast and quick. So if you suddenly want to eat chocolate cake then go the kitchen and bake one . Within fiteen minutes you can have a cake and eat it too.

(This recipe is not originally mine. Got the idea from the book in the picture below. Of course as an old person I am in the habit of adding a bit of this and a bit of that, a little less of this and a little less of that  . . . agak agak )

Small Microwave Chocolate Cake

Ingredients

1/2 cup soft salted butter (about)
1/2 cup castor sugar
2     eggs
1 teaspoon powdered vanilla (pure punyer)
1 cup (less 1 desertspoon) self raising flour
1 desertspoon cocoa powder + about 1 teaspoon nescafe
pinch of bicarbonate of soda


Method

Butter and line with paper a 6-inch diameter glass container ( mine is of a very thin and light material)

Put all the ingredients in the mixing bowl.

Beat on high speed one to two minutes until well mixed.

Pour into baking container.

level it. ( The batter is not so liquid)

Put in microwave oven uncovered.

Set microwave on high,

I cook first for 3 minutes. When I took out it looked so soft.I was scared it was not fully cooked. So I put it back in the oven and cook a furthur 40 seconds.

The cake was soft and delicate. But slightly, very slightly dry. I suppose I shouldn't add the 40 seconds cooking time.

It was fast. You can even see the cake rising during cooking.

At first I thought of icing it ( I have icing ready in the fridge)  but since it  was too soft it would not be suitable.

I got a small package of whipped cream. As I seldom use cream so my whipping was not perfect. It was not smooth. May be the whipping was not rightly done or it might be because I added icing sugar too soon. Anyway I will take notice of this problem and would google later what was it that I did wrongly.

Anyway I like it.

I think if making the cream is a hassle just eat it on its own  . . . and drink nescafe . . .

Or eat it with ice cream! Or yogurt!

Whatever, when you crave for cake, there in less than 15 minutes you can have it!

You should try.

Happy microwaving!

Bye . . .

Small Baking Project

Hello again

The subject I am about to write is so small and insignificant matter. It really is nothing important. It doesn't deserve to be in the blogosphere. But then what deserves. . . sigh . . .

I have no specific subject that I write in depth.  Ah they say I have not found my niche. (What? Write on health and wellness? Mammogram? Menopause) I am in a wilderness. Nevermind  me think, as long as I enjoy writing and you enjoy reading.

Its going to always be light, easy happy reading for you . . .

And so I write . . .

A relative invited us for a casual makan makan last weekend at her house. It is usual for me to bring buah tangan to give to the hostess . By doing so I think we can create warmth and goodwill. Give her something which I can make myself is more meaningful. At the same time I can jolt myself out of the lazy mode.

So I made for her a tray of cupcakes. Sedap punyer! And I hoped she and her children would like it.

When I arrived at her place the first thing I saw in her living hall was the dessert table, elegantly set up and right in the centre was a very big cake all beautifully decorated  . . . aaahh . . .  my simple humble miniscule no glamour cupcakes . . . but did it matter?

Here is the recipe which I got from the internet and which I often use. As usual I will tweak it to suit my palate. If I am going to ice it with the sugar buttercream I have to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe so that the sweetness don't overkill. If I want to frost it with the less sweet Swiss merengue buttercream then I use the recipe in its originality.

Vanilla Cupcakes

175 gm butter salted ( I let the butter go soft first)
175 sugar( I used 165 gm)
175 gm self raising flour ( I used about 190gm)
3 eggs ( I used 4 eggs)
Vanilla essence (I used pure vanilla powder which makes the cake taste nicer)
Milk about 2 tablespoon ( I added lemon juice to the milk.)

Vanilla powder comes in a tube

My method of doing it is easy. Dump everything into the mixing bowl. Start slow the mixer. Then hey go full speed one to two minutes. Don't over mix.

Line the cupcake holes/pan scoop the batter into them. Bake.

Icing

Seive 4 cups of icing sugar ready. Add about 1 dessertspoon meringue powder.

Keeps longer in the fridge

Mix well about 1/4 cup shortening and less than 1/4 cup butter.

Mix in the powdered sugar. Mix well.

Add lemon juice and milk to get the right consistency. Mix.

I wanted to use the russian icing tips to pipe the flower and not the usual swirls with the star tip. So I was careful when adjusting the consistency of the icing. I made a wee bit stiff.

I mixed blue colour gel to some and green to a small amout of icing. The rest I left it in original colour.

The end product?

The cake was soft and not so sweet. The icing flowers keep its shape after travelling,

A small icing flower and three small leaves on the cake did not make it doubly sweet. One cupcake can be finished in two bites. No harm to dieting.

So here's the picture of the end product.

Flowers piped with the Russian icing tips

From the picture you can see that some paper liners peeled away. Why this problem.          

Trouble shooting:

• Low quality cupcake liner. (Throw away the unused liners. Buy better ones)

• Baked cake left too long in the baking pan after being taken out from the oven. The heat cannot escape causing the paper to be wet. (Or should I say the cake perspired). Do not dilly dally to remove cake from the pan.

• Cake under bake. Some. The oven temperature not even. ( My built in oven was installed about 15 years ago. High time to get a new one hehe)

• To make it more presentable put the cake in decorative cupcake wrapper.

So there my small baking project . 

Do try making it yourself.

Enjoy baking.

Bye . . .